Foreign Agent: The IRA’s American connection

By the 1990s, a faction of Irish republicans were turning away from militancy and setting their sights on peace. A political future for the campaign would require more money, more lobbying, and even deeper engagement with the United States – though not with Irish Northern Aid, now tainted by its long association with the IRA. […]

*Corrected file* Noraid has been portrayed on screen many times, usually in the background of stories about terrorism and gunrunning. While TV shows and movies like Columbo, Patriot Games and The Devil’s Own aren’t exactly high art, they do reveal how the class politics of Irish America were understood (and misrepresented) by Hollywood. In this […]

As the Troubles dragged on, IRA volunteers at the Maze Prison decided to go on hunger strike in 1980 and 1981. Their decision would change everything for the IRA — and for Noraid. The protest garnered sympathy from around the world and sparked outrage in the Irish American community. Noraid rallied outside the British embassy, […]

For decades, a quiet armored truck driver living in Brooklyn ran thousands of guns to the IRA. He was born in Ireland and dedicated to the Republican cause. He was also a committed socialist, who believed the anti-imperial struggle in Ireland was connected to the struggle of African-Americans, Cubans and Vietnamese. When he wasn’t handing […]

For over 100 years, Irish revolutionaries hoping to drive the British out of Ireland looked to the United States for money and support. They also looked across the Atlantic for new technology that might give them an advantage, including homemade surface-to-air missiles and even the world’s first modern submarine. In this bonus episode, we explore […]

After Bloody Sunday in 1972, Irish Northern Aid saw its power, influence and donations increase dramatically — but a higher profile brought new enemies. Secretly, the Federal Bureau of Investigation turned its sights on Noraid: auditing their books, cultivating informers and staking out meetings. On the public stage, Irish American politicians like Ted Kennedy, who […]

In 1927, the Irish republican Michael Flannery emigrated from the quiet backroads of Tipperary to the crowded streets of New York City, swapping a life of rebellion for a humdrum career in life insurance. But the Irish American community hadn’t forgotten about the old country, and as the Troubles began in Northern Ireland, Flannery found himself at the heart of the campaign to end British rule.

In episode two of Foreign Agent, Flannery’s life story unlocks the roots of anti-colonial struggle in Ireland and how the Irish became white in America. We trace the history of Noraid, the organisation he helped to found, and the political tensions threatening to rupture the republican movement.

Further reading:

Irish America and the Ulster Conflict by Andrew Wilson

Noraid and the Northern Ireland Troubles, 1970-1994 by Robert Collins

The Provisional IRA by Tommy McKearney

Ireland, Colonialism, and the Unfinished Revolution by Robbie McVeigh and Bill Rolston

How the Irish Became White by Noel Ignatiev

Black and Green by Brian Dooley

Enemies and Passing Friends by Pamela Clayton

“Irish Republicans in Inter-war New York” and “The Politics of Noraid” by Brian Hanley

The interviews recorded with Michael Flannery and Martin Lyons are courtesy of the Tamiment Library at New York University.

Hosted by Nate Lavey

Produced by Nate Lavey and Michael McCanne

Original music by Matt Huxley

https://novara.media/ForeignAgent

When six suitcases full of guns are discovered on an Irish dock in 1971, suspicion falls on a newly founded organisation of Irish Americans known as Noraid. For nearly 30 years, the US, British and Irish governments accused the group of being a front for the Provisional IRA and of funnelling weapons and cash from the pockets of Irish America to the coffers of the socialist guerillas. But could they prove it?

In episode one of Foreign Agent, host Nate Lavey explains how militant Irish nationalism took hold in the bars and social clubs of the Irish American diaspora, and recounts how the appearance of an iconic American rifle on the streets of Belfast led to a courtroom drama in Texas, ending in embarrassment for the American and British governments.

Further reading:

Irish America and the Ulster Conflict by Andrew Wilson

A Secret History of the IRA by Ed Moloney

The Lost Revolution by Brian Hanley and Scott Millar

The interviews recorded with Matthias Reilly and Pascal Morahan are courtesy of the Tamiment Library at New York University. The interview with Brendan Hughes is from the film Voices from the Grave and is courtesy of Ed Moloney.

Hosted by Nate Lavey

Produced by Nate Lavey and Michael McCanne

Original music by Matt Huxley

https://novara.media/ForeignAgent

A new podcast from Novara Media.

In the 1970s, many ordinary Irish Americans became militant advocates for a revolutionary socialist guerrilla group: the Irish Republican Army. Their weapons and donations allowed the IRA to go head to head with the British military. But they also built a real political movement in the United States, one that eventually changed the course of the Troubles—and their own identity.

Over six parts, Foreign Agent: The IRA's American Connection follows the guns, money, and politics from the US side of the conflict. Listen to the first two episodes next Tuesday, 24 May.